SACRAMENTO - An honor student who went on a drinking binge is in jail and facing assault charges after hitting a mailman Monday.

According to his father, 30-year old Brandon Williams had been drinking vodka for two days before the incident Monday afternoon.

After calling a fill-in mail carrier a "bastard," Williams allegedly waited for him behind his mail truck and suddenly took a swing at him, hitting him in the face.

The carrier wasn't seriously injured, but may have to have a filling replaced.

It's not clear why Williams became agitated and attacked the mail carrier.

"To me it seemed like my son had been drinking plenty," said his father, Garland Williams at his home Wednesday.

In an interview at the Sacramento County jail, Williams said he barely remembered anything from the incident.

"I remember going over to talk to him, I don't remember hitting him," Williams said, adding, "I do not remember all the stuff that they said happened."

Williams has had several previous scrapes with the law, including serving four years in prison for having a controlled substance while armed.

But he said he'd begun to turn his life around and his father said Williams had been keeping up a 3.8 grade point average while studying math at Sacramento City College.

"I feel horrible. That's not me," the younger Williams said.

A neighbor, who did not want to be identified said they knew Williams had issues with alcohol, but that he was trying to succeed in school.

"We know that he's a good student. He's a good person," she said.

When officers came to arrest Williams, his father said he shut himself in his room. Williams has difficulty speaking after losing most of his tongue to cancer several years ago and his father said that almost resulted in a tragedy.

"The agent told me I almost came over and shot this boy because I didn't know, I thought he was just talking bizarre," the elder Williams said.

A public defender will be representing Williams against assault charges.

Williams said he wants to get the case settled as soon as possible, deal with the consequences and move on with his life.

"Obviously, I'm gonna have to take alcohol out of the picture, forever. Because this should not happen," he said.